We're Only 48 Hours Into The NBA Season, And It's Already The Best Show On TV

Any notion that the NBA lockout
would have an adverse effect on my love for the game of
professional basketball dissipated faster than a Stephen Jackson
personal foul.

I spent over five hours engrossed in the NBA’s first full night.
And I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, one thing, which we’ll get
to.

There were the Indiana
Pacers proving they may be as improved as people think. And
the Detroit
Pistons proving they may still be as terrible as people
think.

There was Kris Humphries, former reality star
and current basketball player. Who dismissed what will assuredly
be nightly boos to record a rather impressive 21-16 performance
in the New
Jersey Nets comeback victory.

There’s the (albeit premature) unspoken worry that father time
may have already caught up on the winless Los
Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. But not on the San
Antonio Spurs.

There was the wide-grinning Kemba Walker, who
helped lead the Charlotte
Bobcats to a last-second victory in his first career game.
All the while playing in front of Michael
Jordan, you know, the hardliner that almost
prevented the night from happening. Still, I couldn’t help but
forget about what he’d almost done to my favorite sport.
Instead I chuckled at his
questionable headwear choice.

Four of the league’s five Christmas games garnered higher
viewership than last year. And Sunday’s
Bulls-Lakers contest was ABC’s third-highest rated regular
season game ever.

And don’t tell it to me, either.

Despite
my continued disappointment that the league failed in a
public relations opportunity of good will to fans and discount
NBA League Pass this season — they can save their
broadband/mobile argument — I’ll certainly be doling out the $169
for the chance to witness every DeMarcus Cousins
hustle play — which, judging by last night, may no longer be a
rarity — and the look of growing despair upon Kobe
Bryant’s face.

Congratulations, commissioner. I’m hooked.

And it’ll only get worse from here on in. A truncated season
means more basketball in less time. It means more astute Jeff Van
Gundy observations
about costumed and inebriated fans. It means more
Shaq hilarity and
more of lessCharles Barkley. It also means
more Skip Bayless — but you can learn to tune him out.

In my five-plus hours of sports viewing Monday night, not a
single second was spent watching a
record-breaking NFL game. That has never happened before.

Maybe I’m overrating this. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.
After all, it’s only been two days. And a lot can happen in two
days — just ask Lamar Odom.

But I’m not.

“Big things” may not actually be happening. But if they
do, I want to be there to see them.